Calligraphy Course In Toronto With Salman Khattak

[Expressions]

Hi all,

 

I am very excited to announce that I will be offering a 6-week calligraphy course in Toronto in partnership with Wonder Pens. This course will focus on the fundamentals of broad pen calligraphy and will include instruction as well as projects to develop both skill and understanding.

 

Classes will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. every Wednesday starting October 28th. The classwork will be supported by a private forum where participants can upload their homework (yes, there will be homework) and ask questions.

 

My goal for this course is for the participants to develop command of at least one hand (both Majuscules and Minuscules) along with understanding the fundamentals of broad pen calligraphy. Projects include exercises in development of a new hand as well as composing newspaper headlines. I expect the course to be both fun and a learning experience.

 

More detail are on the Wonder Pens Blog. I hope to see at least a few FPN'ers in class.

 

Regards,

Salman

 

[Ghost Plane]

Oh. Oh my. I'm on the wrong machine to access the bowing down emoticons.

[Expressions]

Thank you so much GP. I am hoping to make this an ongoing thing. This class is for broad edged scripts, and if successful, will be followed by a similar duration course for pointed pen scripts.

 

We are keeping the class size small (no more than 10) to make sure there is plenty of one-to-one feedback and coaching over the 6 week period.

 

Salman

[jsolares]

Nice, too bad i'm in the wrong country for these.

[Fabienne]

Yea, me, too, jsolares

 

Wonderful calligraphy, a joy to behold. ​

[Expressions]

Thank you jsolares and Fabienne.

 

I have been toying with the idea of doing a live online session over Google Hangouts (or similar technology). That might be coming up in the future.

 

Salman

[Fabienne]

I would just love to see you do what you do, let alone attempting to work along. :|

[Expressions]

You are too kind Fabienne.

 

S.

[Ghost Plane]

I'd love to watch. Another spectator slot.

[dms525]

Wish I could be there!

 

David

[Expressions]

Thank you GP. A special VIP seat will be reserved for you at all times :-)

 

Thank you for saying that David. Your skill and understanding of Italic handwriting and Gothic Batarde means you already have command of the fundamentals we will be going over in this course. It would be great to meet you some day though.

 

Salman

[Expressions]

I thought I should let people know that I will be hosting a Google Hangout on Saturday 24th October to demonstrate how to cut a reed and a bamboo Qalam and get started with Arabic Calligraphy.

 

This is not related to the course but I figured people might be interested. Here is the link: Google Hangout with Salman Khattak: Cutting a Qalam and getting started with Arabic Calligraphy

 

If you want to work along, you will need a 1/2 inch bamboo stake (or reeds) that are at least 6 inches long. These are sold in garden stores in 5-6 ft length so one stake will give you more than enough bamboo for all your Qalams.

 

You will also need a sharp knife. A utility knife is fine as long as it has a sturdy blade - do not use the snap off kind.

For paper, I highly recommend finger painting pads for practice. They have a slick surface that is required for good results but the traditionally prepared paper is very expensive and takes ages to make and cure.

Sumi ink or even fountain pen ink can be used for dipping.

I will also demonstrate making a reservoir from a soda can so you'll need one of these and some sturdy scissors too if you want to make that. BTW - the reservoir is not used in Arabic calligraphy.

 

Looking forward to seeing some FPN'ers there.

 

Salman